Finnish Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party) has been ranked as the fifth-best finance minister in the European Union by the Financial Times newspaper. Taking top position on the FT ranking list was Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble. Also ranked ahead of Katainen were Poland’s Jacek Rostowski, France’s Christine Lagarde and Sweden’s Anders Borg. In 2008 the Financial Times ranked Katainen as number one among European finance ministers.
The comparison of the finance ministers of 19 countries takes into account the ministers’ political ...

Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party) is calling on civil servants and the Economic Council, a body under the authority of the Prime Minister, to draw up plans to re-allocate state spending. Katainen says that the state needs to calculate if it has unnecessary expenses, and it needs to target spending in different ways in a “cost inventory”. “Just like in an inventory in a shop, we will look and see what we have on the shelves. Is there something missing, should we order something more, and is there something with an expired sell-by date for lack ...

Jyrki Katainen in Brussels on Sunday
Image: Yle
Finnish Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen says that the EU-IMF aid package for Ireland hammered out in Brussels on Sunday should calm the finance markets, since along with the aid to Ireland, the EU agreed on the principles of a permanent crisis management mechanism.
After June 2013, the private sector will be made responsible for its action in some regards.
According to Katainen, the most important aspect of the 85-billion-euro package is that it is credible.
Speaking to a YLE reporter outside the emergency ...